"I have traveled to a place where the dead lie above the ground in rows and bunches. Time has gone somewhere without me. This is not my country, not my time. My skin is drawn tight around my eyes. My cloths smell of blood. I bleed inside. I am water. I am stone. . . I have not come home, Ma. I have gone ahead, gone back. There is glass between us, we cannot speak."

Vietnam veteran Larry Heinemann, author of Close Quarters

"To capture what it feels like to be home as a veteran from the Iraq War is almost an impossible task. The spectrum of my emotions ranges from full to deep and are difficult to convey. . . No movie could ever catch and no written word could espouse these feelings . ...(which) will remain forever in the hearts of those who served."

Lawrence Provost, Iraq Veteran

"I no longer believe that I can change the world. I no longer believe that even all of us together are going to change the world. But I do believe we have to keep trying. . . I have to keep trying because it is that only way I can live with myself, knowing what I know. It is the only way I can live with my wife, who believes in me more than I believe in myself. It is the only way I can live with my daughter, who will inherit the world I give her."

W.D. Ehrhart, Poet and Vietnam veteran

Dr. Sharoni's approach to counseling and coaching is a synthesis of numerous theories including Gestalt, Imago, multicultural counseling, and nonviolent communication. She has over 25 years of experience teaching, training, and facilitating groups and special expertise in identifying and transforming dynamics of power and privilege at all level of human interaction.

Throughout her studies and professional career, Dr. Sharoni examined and worked to transform conflict at all levels of human interaction, identifying patterns that cut across from the personal to the global. An internationally-renown scholar, community activist and parent, Dr. Sharoni’s unique approach to conflict transformation is grounded in her rich life experience and in her commitment to nurturing and transforming relationships. Her work with veterans is inspired by her own experience growing up in a war zone and serving in the Israeli military.

Coping with Post Traumatic Stress:

A workshop for veterans and their families. Military deployment and participation in war impact the lives of veterans and their families in a myriad of ways. In this workshop, veterans and their family members will reflect on their experiences during deployment and in its aftermath. Particular attention will be devoted to understanding the nature and range of post-traumatic reactions, rekindling intimate relationships, improving effective communication and parenting skills, and strengthening support systems.

Trauma & Healing

A series of interactive discussions on the post traumatic effects of war and combat. Particular attention would be devoted to coping strategies with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and to other creative healing methods.

Institute for Conflict Transformation

We should reach out to family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers who participated in war. We need to listen to their first-hand horrific experiences. We should ask them to describe in as much detail as possible, what they witnessed and did in the war and what the war did to them. Fighting and surviving a war is often the most intense, and traumatic experience in a person’s life.

I see people as capable of gaining awareness and radically transforming their lives, changing communication patterns, and healing from trauma. —Simona Sharoni